I clamped the top to the side of the base, as I had done before, so that the edge with the knot would be easy to work with. I mixed up some ordinary five-minute epoxy and added just a touch of black epoxy pigment. I applied this freely. After about twenty minutes I checked on it and found that in the deepest spot the void wasn't entirely filled, so I mixed up another batch and added more. After that had cured for a bit I eased the top to the floor and applied a coat of oil to the bottom side. I planned on attaching the base to the top the next day, and I wanted the bottom side oiled to keep it from absorbing moisture.

I have picked out a list of 9 books on woodworking that covers a wide variety of woodworking hobbies and techniques. I can personally vouch for these books, since I own most of them. These books will serve as valuable reference tools that can be used over and over. I’ve also checked the ratings and comments to make sure these books resonate with their readers. For your convenience, I’ve also included Amazon affiliate links so you can check out the Amazon reviews yourselves. Hope you enjoy the article and towards the end, I will ask you to share your favorite woodworking books.

Having done all this, I'm not sure I'd do it this way again. It might well be faster to layout the positions with compass and straightedge directly onto the top. Either way, you'll want to use a scribe rather than a pencil. Scribe lines are hard to see, and impossible to photograph, but the scribe and compass points click into them, allowing a precision that pencils simply cannot match.

As a teacher I find Ernest Joyce’s “The Technique of Furniture Making” (Batson) invaluable, ’tho it is as far away from an enjoyable read as possible. Similarly Bob Wearing’s “Essential Woodworker” (Lost Art Press). Bob is one of the only people who ever gave insight into traditional English technique. I believe the lack of similar books is due to the apprenticeship tradition of teaching, where nothing was ever written down.
Woodworking books, plans and CDs allow you to study the methods of woodworking experts to reduce the learning curve on woodworking projects and save valuable time in the workshop. Reading a woodworking book is the easiest and least expensive way to learn from woodworking legends and craftsmen. Woodworking tips and lessons from masters like Tage Frid, Frank Klausz, Sam Maloof, Thomas Moser, Ian Norbury, Toshio Odate, Rude Oslnik, David Pye, and Gustav Stickley can be right at your finger tips. If your are interested in improving your hand tool skills or learning classic furniture-making techniques, we find Lost Art Press Books to be among the most important woodworking book collections we offer. With Christopher Schwarz as part of the writing and publishing team, you will be gaining access to one of the most creative and knowledgeable woodworkers around.

Even with all of those faults my only regret is that it is too ugly. I didn’t take the time to make it more visually attractive as I was eager to get right into making beautiful furniture instead. Twenty years later the furniture is still beautiful (or not) but I go out to the shop and look at a drab uninspiring workplace. Yeah, nothing wrong with having a visually inspiring workplace in my opinion. All that shop furniture I slapped together years ago with no concern about aesthetics is getting replaced bit by bit. Why should my shop be downright ugly when it is one of my favorite places in the world to spend my time? I see no reason for that, but that’s just my opinion and as we all know everyone has their own one of those… Sadly, no one pays nor reveres me when I offer mine. bummer, I could be a rich egotistical maniac if they did coz I sure offer it enough. 😉

I drilled from the mark. That way I could ensure that the hole was where it was supposed to be, on the side where the position was critical. I have two 3/8" bits -- a brad point bit that came with my doweling set, and a perfectly ordinary 3/8" twist bit. Brad-point bits are far more precise than twist bits -- they're more likely to start where you want them to, and they're more likely to stay straight. My problem is that my brad-point bit wasn't long enough to go through 3-1/2" of wood. So I started each hole with the brad-point bit, then finished it off with the twist bit. I clamped a piece of ply on the back, to reduce tear-out.
Drilling a precisely positioned, deep, wide hole isn't easy, without a drill press. So I bought a WolfCraft drill guide. After experimenting with it, and drilling some test holes, I build a jig around it. I screwed it to a scrap of MDF, and then drilled a carefully-centered 3/4" hole. The MDF can be clamped more easily than the base itself, and the 3/4" hole will keep a 3/4" Forstner bit drilling precisely where it is supposed to.

Begin by cutting off a 10-in. length of the board and setting it aside. Rip the remaining 38-in. board to 6 in. wide and cut five evenly spaced saw kerfs 5/8 in. deep along one face. Crosscut the slotted board into four 9-in. pieces and glue them into a block, being careful not to slop glue into the saw kerfs (you can clean them out with a knife before the glue dries). Saw a 15-degree angle on one end and screw the plywood piece under the angled end of the block.

Abstract shapes are considered in two ways. Shapes that are difficult to identify and sit outside our daily visual experience are called abstractions. The others are highly stylized organic shapes that are recognizable and usually provide specific information. Letters of the alphabet and the male/female symbols for washrooms are examples of abstract images.

Before joining the top to the base, loosen the bolts and screws on the lower stretchers to create a little play in the leg posts. Align the top notches with the leg posts and tap the top into place with a hammer and piece of scrap wood, working evenly around the table until all leg posts are level with the tabletop. Tighten the lower stretchers and you’re done. A hefty thanks to Doug Merrill for this weighty idea.

Woodworking Workbenches are available in a variety of styles. Open Style Wood Workbenches feature a large work surface and a lower shelf. 2-1/4" thick maple top with maple plywood lower shelf. Open Style Wood Workbenches are available as a 2-station unit (28"W) or a 4-station unit (54"W). Open Style Auxiliary Workbenches are used for placement against walls. Shelf features a rear curb to keep contents in place. Solid maple top features angle iron front edge. Plywood shelf is open for maximum functionality. Solid maple legs. Environmentally-friendly UV finish. Units measure 24"D and are available in several lengths and heights. Mitre Box Benches ensure wood pieces are kept flat while mitres are cut. Bench is made using solid maple unit with environmentally-friendly UV finish. Holds a mitre saw up to 26"W and provides a 24" square work surface on both sides. Mitre Box Benches measure 33-3/4"H. Sheet Metal Workbenches are made with a 2-1/4" thick maple top and is protected on two long edges with 2" x 2" angle iron. Solid maple legs and stringers. Plywood shelves are designed to provide open storage of 30" metal sheets. Measures 40"D x 32"H and available in widths of 60" or 96".

But I still wasn’t entirely satisfied with our list. I wondered if we’d read enough woodworking books as a staff to create a solid list. So we surveyed the readers of my blog (the results of that are on our web site), then asked many of the woodworkers who write for us to contribute lists of their favorite woodworking books. Theirs are below, in their own words (publishers have listed only on first reference; but if no publisher has been noted, the book is available on Google Books at books.google.com).

To develop the material, we editors asked ourselves—and dozens of top woodworkers—what’s likely to go wrong at each stage of a project. We really dug deep to make sure we didn’t just repeat the types of advice you see in the average magazine. We ended up with a list of more than 500 problems covering everything from design and layout, to stock preparation, joinery, finishing and more. Then, we reached out to top woodworkers around the country for their solutions. The result was a 320-page book filled with some of the best advice you could ever find from more than 75 master craftsmen, including Marc Adams, Mike Dunbar, Graham Blackburn, Toshio Odate, David Marks, Frank Klausz and Lonnie Bird.

Here’s a traditional Swedish farm accessory for gunk-laden soles. The dimensions are not critical, but be sure the edges of the slats are fairly sharp?they’re what makes the boot scraper work. Cut slats to length, then cut triangular openings on the side of a pair of 2x2s. A radial arm saw works well for this, but a table saw or band saw will also make the cut. Trim the 2x2s to length, predrill, and use galvanized screws to attach the slats from underneath. If you prefer a boot cleaner that has brushes, check out this clever project.
To mark the centerline, set a compass to span something more than half the width of the leg. Draw an arc from corner of the leg. The point where the arcs intersect will be on the centerline. With a centerline point on each end of the leg, place a scribe on the point, slide a straightedge up to touch the scribe. Do the same on the other end. When you have the straightedge positioned so that you can touch both points with the scribe, and in each case it is touching the straightedge - without moving the straightedge - scribe the line. Use scribes, rather than pencils or pens, because they make more precise marks.
Thanks Chris! I found this page while looking for a link to your e-mail address. I recently finished your erudite volumes on workbench design, and am about to embark on my own bench inspired by your take on the Holtzapffel design. As my vices and planer arrive, I’ve been agonizing over whether to use SYP or rough maple for the top. I don’t have a big budget, so all-maple is not an option. But after reading your ten tips here, I’ll stop agonizing — all SYP it is! This is, after all, my first of what I hope are at least several handmade benches. Your scholarship and craftsmanship are truly inspiring.
Thanks Chris! I found this page while looking for a link to your e-mail address. I recently finished your erudite volumes on workbench design, and am about to embark on my own bench inspired by your take on the Holtzapffel design. As my vices and planer arrive, I’ve been agonizing over whether to use SYP or rough maple for the top. I don’t have a big budget, so all-maple is not an option. But after reading your ten tips here, I’ll stop agonizing — all SYP it is! This is, after all, my first of what I hope are at least several handmade benches. Your scholarship and craftsmanship are truly inspiring.

Permanent or Portable? This is a distinction that decides much about your bench choice: Is it to remain stationary or must it fold, roll, or otherwise make itself scarce between jobs? Large, heavy benches are more stable and, in general, more adaptable to different jobs (sometimes several at once). But the bigger the bench, the more hassle involved with stowing it.

We want to make these pieces square, and of identical length. Square is a matter of making sure the saw blade is square and that the cutting guide is square. The trick to getting the pieces of the same length is to clamp them together and to cut them all at once. For the 4x4's, that means making a rough cut in each first, so we have four pieces, each 3-4" longer than we need, from which we'll get our four legs.
Our understanding of what makes pleasing proportion is deeply imprinted in our mind and of all the design elements is the least influenced by one’s cultural experience. Desirable proportion has long been based around ratios we see in nature with an emphasis on the human body. The “golden rectangle,” considered to be divine proportion, has been used since at least the Renaissance period in art and design and has largely influenced our common experience with architecture and design. In fact, we often don’t even see proportion until something is out of proportion.

One quality about this bench that is definitely lacking is space – both tabletop and storage. The Olympia Tools does provide an adequate shelf, but it does not come with any drawers, nor does it offer the option of adding them later. The table top is the smallest we saw at 50” long and 2’ wide, though the width is actually better than most of the other table we reviewed. Still, a significant chunk of that width is occupied by a trough. This trough is designed to hold smaller workpieces to keep them from falling or getting knocked over, but it removes about 6” of width from the tabletop.